The school break ended, and Yoo Minseo returned to high school.
Some students, once awakened as Slayers, immediately dropped out of school to devote themselves fully to slaying. But Minseo was different. Instead, she began to study even harder. On weekdays she was just an ordinary diligent student, but on weekends, she went slaying with Hyunseok and Jongwon.
It was Minseo who suggested it.
She told them: if she worked hard at studying, then on weekends, she wanted them to slay together.
Hyunseok agreed. Because of that, Hyunseok had to move into a two-room apartment.
Even the so-called strongest monster at present, the Orc, fell in a single punch from Hyunseok.
He was truly monstrous, with stats beyond comprehension. At least, at this stage in time.
And a month passed.
A Korean electronics company, Sori Co., Ltd. (㈜Sori), unveiled a groundbreaking invention.
It was a device that could roughly measure the strength of monsters. Monsters were said to possess something called Mana Power, and this device measured it.
At first, the invention didn't receive much attention.
But strangely enough, right on cue, new types of monsters began to appear.
For the weakest monsters, their names appeared over their heads. But from the Orcs onward, not even names were displayed.
In other words, these newly appearing monsters were complete unknowns, no one could gauge their strength without direct battle.
In such circumstances, a device that could measure monster strength, even approximately, became incredibly useful.
In fact, some monsters looked weak but turned out to be terrifyingly strong. Thanks to the mana-measuring device, many guilds avoided rash battles and withdrew safely.
The device itself resembled a smartphone, and before long, an additional Monster Encyclopedia function was added. The devices linked together in a kind of network, creating a shared catalog of monsters.
The system rewarded the first Slayer who registered a new monster's appearance, traits, and weaknesses with a ₩1,000,000 cash prize from Sori.
Even beyond the cash, the policy of letting the discoverer name the monster proved highly effective.
The device became known as the Smart Encyclopedia, and it spread worldwide at astonishing speed. As always in industry, first movers won. Competitors rushed in, but it was too late, Smart Encyclopedia was already entrenched globally, and it became an indispensable aid to Slayers everywhere.
Just like now.
Hyunseok frowned.
"'Juhui, I Love You'?"
That was the name displayed in the Encyclopedia for the large-eyed frog monster before him.
Apparently, a Korean Slayer discovered it first and named it, but the naming sense was terrible.
Its skin was bumpy, like a turtle's shell or cracked farmland, and its huge bloodshot eyes bulged grotesquely. No matter how you looked, there was nothing remotely "pretty" about it. And yet someone had named it "Juhui, I Love You."
Shaking his head, Hyunseok opened his Combat Field.
"It's weaker than an Orc, but once its HP drops below half, and its body turns bright red, it releases poison gas. We should watch out for that," said Jongwon.
"Cut the bullshit," Jongwon added sourly.
These days Jongwon was frustrated. It was easy traveling with Hyunseok, but there was nothing left for him to do.
Humans are happiest when they can prove their own worth. But with Hyunseok, a single punch meant instant kill. No monster stronger than an Orc had appeared yet. Which meant, Hyunseok's fist was always instant death.
Yes, it was efficient and gained them quick experience, but for Jongwon it felt hollow.
"One punch and it's over, who cares about the red glow or whatever?"
And indeed, the absurdly named "Juhui, I Love You" monster couldn't withstand Hyunseok's fist and died instantly. No item dropped.
Then, Hyunseok heard a notification.
[You have successfully one-shotted 30 times in a row.]
[You are recognized for Repetition Mastery.]
[A skill has been formed.]
❋ ❋ ❋
The world kept changing rapidly.
Two major developments stood out: one was rising discontent among Slayers, and the other was the arrival of the Smart Encyclopedia.
Greenstone had been theoretically shown to supply 3–5% of Seoul's daily electricity needs. But when tested in real power plants, results differed, closer to 1–2% efficiency.
Even so, at that level, critics argued that a price of ₩100 million per stone was absurd. Rumors even claimed each stone was worth hundreds of billions of won. Many suspected collusion between the government and conglomerates with guilds.
Once, Jongwon asked:
"Hey, Hyunseok, is it true Greenstone is worth hundreds of billions?"
"Idiot, of course not," Hyunseok replied.
"But that's what the internet says…"
Hyunseok, an electrical engineering graduate and employee at KEPCO, quickly scribbled calculations.
"Here, look."
"Damn… is this for real?"
Seoul's average annual electricity usage was about 47 million MWh, that's 47,000,000,000,000 Wh. Dividing by 365 gave over 100,000 MWh daily. Even at just 1%, that was 1,000 MWh.
Using residential electricity prices (₩120 per kWh), 1 MWh cost ₩120,000. Which meant 1,000 MWh equaled roughly ₩120 million.
At 2% efficiency, about ₩240 million. So at the very least, ₩120 million to ₩240 million, never hundreds of billions.
Of course, that was using residential supply rates. Using raw material costs, the government argued it was worth less than ₩100 million. Still, factoring in demand outside power generation, its pollution-free nature, high demand in other industries, the value was undeniable.
"So yeah," Hyunseok concluded. "Not hundreds of billions. But easily over ₩100 million. Whether it's the government or corporations, they're profiting big. And there's no guarantee all of it even goes to power generation."
"See? Was that so hard? You could've just said it straight," Jongwon complained.
Hyunseok snapped.
"It's over ₩100 million, dumbass!"
Not long ago, Jongwon had gone to the U.S. for a Ph.D., and Hyunseok thought maybe his brain had rusted.
In any case, public opinion now claimed the government undervalued Greenstone.
Meanwhile, the Smart Encyclopedia brought its own problems, namely, ridiculous monster names. Too often, the name gave no hint of appearance or abilities.
So Sori changed policy: from then on, monster names were determined by Slayer voting, though the discoverer's original name remained as a "nickname." This proved far more practical, and Slayers supported it.
As the Smart Encyclopedia evolved, even a Monster Map feature appeared, not made by Sori, but by Slayers. With location data, respawn times, and item drops, it became an essential tool.
Even Hyunseok, who didn't slay that often, used the Encyclopedia to make hunts efficient. Just earlier, he had hunted the "Juhui, I Love You" monster thanks to it.
[You have successfully one-shotted 30 times in a row.]
[You are recognized for a Minor Achievement.]
[A skill has been formed.]
So he had gained a skill.
He already knew many Slayers earned skills via Easy Mode, but he'd never cared. Why bother when one punch ended everything?
'My stats are just that broken.'
Back in Tutorial Mode, he had been warned: "With excessive stats, Easy Mode may bring severe disadvantages."
Perhaps, in hindsight, that "disadvantage" was simply that everything was too easy. Like Tyson boxing kindergarteners, where was the fun?
Items from low monsters were useless to him. Even high-level players had no use for beginner gear. His stats alone carried him.
Thus, he hadn't obtained skills, except auto-granted ones like Combat Field. Normally, combat skills came from martial arts books (expensive) or repetition mastery.
He had never felt the need for books, and repetition chances were rare. Online, many already had 10+ active skills, but Hyunseok barely gained any.
Worse, according to the system, he was under a Level Restriction. Other Slayers grew stronger by leveling up, but Hyunseok couldn't even gain experience.
Still, he valued safety first.
He didn't enjoy slaying, nor care about skills, but the income from drops and Monster Stones was more than enough.
'Let's check the skill.'
Skill Window
Combat Field (active) — Lv. 7Unleashes a combat field, unlocking a Slayer's latent potential.Duration: 20 minutes 28 seconds.Activation condition: None (requires Intelligence stat 100+).?Iron Fist (passive) — Lv. 1A hardened fist built from strength and stamina.Increases attack power by 5% and reduces stamina consumption.
Combat Field was his first skill, obtained in Easy Mode. Originally level 1, now level 7, somehow tied to his Intelligence surpassing 100. Once that happened, an extra line appeared: "Activation condition: None (requires Intelligence stat 100+)."
In other words, he could now freely deploy it, even without monsters. Only Minseo and Jongwon knew this secret.
'Of course, who knows if it applies to everyone… maybe only in Normal Mode will the remaining "?" reveal itself…'
Regardless, he now had his first passive skill: Iron Fist.
As he walked, he asked:
"Minseo, did your skills level up?"
"Yeah. Restore is level 3 now, and Combat Field is level 4."
Minseo could use Restore about three times daily, and Combat Field about seven. Together, they theorized:
From the stat window, Strength +1 increased HP by 10 points. But the exact HP value was unknown, everyone simply assumed higher Strength meant more HP. Same for MP.
Probably an Easy Mode feature. In higher modes, exact numbers would surely appear, enabling fine control like in games.
Hyunseok guessed the "?" in his skill window was the required MP cost.
It was just a theory, but likely true.
"Why are you asking about skills all of a sudden?" Minseo asked.
"I just got one. Iron Fist. Doesn't seem great though."
"Congrats, oppa," she smiled.
Hyunseok ruffled her hair affectionately. Then—
"Stop!" Jongwon shouted.
They froze.
The space ahead was warping. Normally, this heralded a monster spawn, but this distortion was massive.
"Not even a spawning zone… I've never seen warping this big," Jongwon muttered.
They had seen videos of elephant-class monsters spawning, but this was larger, five meters wide, ten meters high. Like a small building twisting before their eyes.
"Let's retreat," Hyunseok ordered.
Jongwon nodded. At that scale, it felt like at least a Whale-class monster was about to emerge.
Deciding safety came first, the trio carefully backed away.
(End of Chapter 11)
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